Sig Christenson is a veteran military reporter who has made nine trips to the war zone. He writes regularly for Hearst about service members, veterans and heroes, among other topics. He is also the co-founder and former president of Military Reporters and Editors, founded in 2002.

BAMC

06/13/2014

SAN ANTONIO — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, on American soil for the first time after five years of captivity, joined the ranks of patients Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center, but he wasn't a typical soldier on the mend there.

The Army won't allow a television in his hospital room, and he isn't allowed yet to mingle and talk with other soldiers. Bergdahl is surrounded by experts trained to help former captives readjust. He hasn't asked to talk with his parents, who waged a well-publicized campaign to secure his freedom.

And after 12 days at an Air Force hospital in Germany, Bergdahl also isn't aware of the controversy that has exploded across the country about the circumstances of his capture and release.

06/12/2014

SAN ANTONIO — A low-key homecoming is in store for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was released in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban and will arrive Friday in San Antonio after two weeks in a German hospital.

Defense officials said a U.S. military aircraft left Ramstein Air Base on Thursday afternoon and was to land at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland early Friday.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Bergdahl will continue his “reintegration process” in San Antonio after being held by the Taliban for five years. He was swapped for five Taliban prisoners on May 31 in Afghanistan.

06/08/2012

Timothy Poe, a country crooner from San Antonio accused of lying on national television about being badly wounded in Afghanistan, was challenged Thursday over claims that he was shot in one leg while in Iraq.

The Minnesota National Guard charged that the story, told last month to a Dallas television station, wasn't true, saying its records showed that Poe, 35, reported to training at Camp Shelby, Miss., in 2005 but didn't go to Iraq because of a “medical condition” that officials didn't identify.

“There is no official record that Mr. Poe deployed to Iraq and sustained injuries in combat,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a Minnesota Guard spokesman.

Poe became an overnight sensation Monday when he was featured in a segment of NBC's “America's Got Talent.” He told the judges and the national television audience at an Austin audition of suffering back and head injuries in a 2009 firefight in Afghanistan.

The Guard said Poe went home with an ear problem after just more than a month in the war zone, and others who said they served with him called his story an outright lie.

Poe could not be reached despite multiple calls during the past two days. The Express-News asked him to allow San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he was treated from September 2009 until his medical discharge in May 2011, to release information about his treatment. So many messages had been left on the phone that its storage capacity was full.

SAMMC has yet to release any documents, but the Minnesota National Guard provided records that in some cases appeared to support parts of Poe's story and undermine other claims he has made.

The Guard said Poe gave the records to the media. After examining them, Olson said, “He appears to lack the required justification to conclusively prove his injuries are combat-related. Absent this lack of supporting justification, it's impossible to prove Mr. Poe's injuries resulted from combat action.”

06/07/2012

A San Antonio singer who told viewers of “America's Got Talent” on Monday that he was flown out of Afghanistan after being badly injured in a grenade blast was actually evacuated for an ear problem, according to the National Guard.

Timothy Michael Poe, a sergeant who delivered supplies, had been in Afghanistan for just over a month in summer 2009, Master Sgt. Daniel Ewer, a Minnesota National Guard spokesman, said Wednesday.

“There's a medical issue with his ears,” he said, adding he had no additional information.

A news release issued by the guard countered Poe's claim of having been injured in Afghanistan, sparking a flurry of stories, blogs and comments on the Internet accusing him of manufacturing the tale.

Neither Poe nor two family members returned phone messages.

Poe was treated at San Antonio Military Medical Center, but spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he could not reveal the content of medical records without Poe's permission.

Mitchell said Poe was assigned to Fort Sam Houston's Warrior Transition Battalion and was there from September 2009 until he was medically retired in May 2011.

U.S. Army North spokesman Don Manuszewski confirmed that Poe used the Warrior and Family Support Center. The director of the facility, Judith Markelz, said she vaguely remembered him.

The San Antonio Express-News left a message on Poe's phone asking him to give SAMMC permission to release his records.

Another Minnesota Guard spokesman, Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, said Wednesday that Poe told him in a message that “he would like to discuss with me his case and provide more information.”

“I returned his call and he did not pick up and he did not return my call,” Olson said.

11/12/2009

FORT HOOD - Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged by the Army with 13 specifications of premeditated murder in connection with last week's shooting rampage.

At a brief news conference, Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command, didn't rule out the filing of more charges.

He called Thursday's charges "a first step in the court-martial process."

The penalty for premeditated murder, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, is "death or imprisonment for life as a court-martial may direct."

The president must approve a death sentence.

Also Thursday, the FBI said it appears Hasan acted alone, and he was not involved in terror activities when a joint terrorism task force crossed paths with him last year.

"At this point, there is no information to indicate Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot," the FBI said in a statement. "We are working with the military to obtain, review and analyze all information relating to Maj. Hasan in order to allow for a better understanding of the facts and circumstances that led to the Fort Hood shooting. "

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered a high-level review of how U.S. officials handled warning signs that might have pointed to the killing spree.

At Thursday's news conference, Grey also revealed Hasan was shot by two Fort Hood police officers. There had been widespread speculation on which officer fired the rounds that struck Hasan,

Grey confirmed Hasan was under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center. Grey said Hasan was in "pretrial restriction."

FORT HOOD - Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged by the Army with 13 specifications of premeditated murder in connection with the shootings at Fort Hood.

Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command, did not rule out the filing of more charges in the case. He called today's charges "a first step in the court-martial process."

At a brief press conference where no questions were taken, he also revealed that Hasan was shot by two Fort Hood police officers. There has been widespread speculation on which officer fired the rounds that struck Hasan.

Grey also confirmed a report originally published in the Express-News that Hasan was under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center. Grey said Hasan was in "pre-trial restriction."

He also said Hasan was not at the Soldier Readiness Center last Thursday for any official business.

Grey told the reporters that all autopsies had been completed at Dover AFB, Del.

Col. John Rossi, who began the press conference, said the readiness center was "fully operational." But Grey seemed to contradict that statement. He told reporters that the crime scene involved "a very large area" that included the readiness center, four adjacent buildings and two parking lots. He said the scene was still being scrutinized by investigators and that law enforcement officers on the scene were conducting inspections of vehicles in the area for bullet impacts. He added that he had no idea when the readiness center "will be released."